The use of heating elements or heating grids to remove fog, frost, and the like from windows is known in the art. In particular, it is not uncommon for a “heating grid” made from a thin strip or wire of electrically conductive material to be present on a rear window of a motor vehicle.
The heating grid is typically in electrical communication with a power source that can afford for an electrical current to pass through the electrically conductive material and the material increasing in temperature as the current passes therethrough. In this manner, rear window glass can be heated so evaporation of fog, melting of frost, and the like can occur. In some instances, the heating grid can be screen printed onto the glass and can contain elements such as silver, gold, copper, etc.
One or more locations of the heating grid can experience corrosion if materials within the vicinity of the heating grid come into contact therewith and/or release an element and/or compound that when in contact with the grid results in corrosion. In addition, if water vapor is present in the environment, corrosion can be enhanced by the reaction of the material, element and/or compound with the water vapor to form a corrosive agent.
Determining which material in the vicinity of the heating grid is causing the corrosion can be difficult. For example, within the interior of a motor vehicle, a multitude of materials such natural fabrics, polymers and the like are present and determining which material is ultimately responsible for corrosion of the heating grid can require a plurality of time consuming and/or cost prohibitive testing.
For example, heretofore testing procedures have required performing a chemical analysis of the variety of materials in the vicinity of the heating grid, determining which material might possibly have a corrosive element, and testing the material of the heating grid in a specialized corrosion test containing the corrosive element. Therefore, a corrosion test that provides for simple and yet effective determination of which material in the vicinity of a heating grid can cause corrosion of the grid would be desirable.